1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a wind power plant having a tower, a gondola carried by the latter, a rotor mounted in the gondola and at least one pressure pump, feeding a reverse osmosis plant, and mechanically driven by the rotor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wind power plants used for generating electric power are known in numerous different constructions. In addition, sea water desalination plants are known which desalinate sea or brackish water, usually employing fossil energy sources. Also in the case of electrically operated plants working according to the reverse osmosis process, use is normally made of electric power generated using fossil fuels.
To permit the use of renewable energy sources, it has already been proposed to generate the electric power necessary for operating the pumps and other electrical units of a reverse osmosis plant by means of a wind power plant, e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,173, DE 200 13 613 U1, DE 197 14 512 C2, DE 198 50 565 A1, and DE 43 21 050 A1. It is clear that such an interconnection of conventional plants has a limited efficiency.
DE 38 08 536 A1 discloses a wind power plant in which the rotor acts by means of a miter gear on a set of pumps, which act on a pressure container located in the tower. This pressure container in turn supplies a reverse osmosis plant located outside the wind power plant.
The known plants have a complicated and costly construction. Therefore, the problem of the invention is to provide a wind power plant, which in the case of a simple construction, can desalinate with high efficiency sea or brackish water for the production of drinking water. This problem is solved by the novel invention disclosed herein.